Sharks hold on to beat Vancouver

SAN JOSE -- Joe Thornton scored his first goal since returning from a lower-body injury and the San Jose Sharks moved a step closer to clinching the top spot in the Western Conference with a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. Joe Pavelski, Manny Malhotra and Logan Couture also scored for the Sharks, who lead Chicago by two points heading into the final weekend of the regular season. But the Blackhawks have two games remaining and the tiebreaker edge to just one game for San Jose, meaning the Sharks still need help to be assured of the No. 1 seed when the playoffs start next week. While the game was of big importance to the Sharks, the Northwest Division champion Canucks are locked in as the third seed for the playoffs and gave goalie Roberto Luongo and defenseman Sami Salo the night off. The only remaining drama for Vancouver is whether Henrik Sedin will be the first Canucks player to win the NHL scoring title. Sedin had an assist, giving him 108 points on the season -- two more than Washington's Alex Ovechkin. But Ovechkin has two games remaining, while Sedin finishes the season at home against Calgary on Saturday night. The lack of meaning the game had for the Canucks didn't prevent things from getting chippy in the third period when the teams combined for 76 penalty minutes. The Sharks committed three minor penalties in a 57-second span, starting the rush to the penalty box. Evgeni Nabokov responded with his best stretch of his 30-save night, helping kill off 2 full minutes of a two-man advantage. He robbed Daniel Sedin with a pad save and made a glove save on Kevin Bieksa's shot from the point. Then with 57 seconds left in the final power play, Alex Burrows was called for interference on Thornton, setting off another stretch of penalties. San Jose had six players in the penalty box at one point, with Devin Setoguchi and Scott Nichol needing to stand because there was no room. A seventh player, Niclas Wallin, was in the locker room after getting a fighting major, a rouging penalty and a 10-minute misconduct. With both teams depleted by penalties, the Canucks finally got on the board with goals from Pavel Demitra and Andrew Alberts that cut San Jose's lead to 4-2. The Sharks broke the game open with a three-goal second period against backup goalie Andrew Raycroft. Thornton had the pretties of the goals off a perfect setup from Dany Heatley, a change from the usual script for two of San Jose's top players. Heatley fed Thornton from the boards and Thornton converted on an easy one-timer for his 20th goal of the season and first since March 23. Thornton missed his first three games since joining San Jose after that with a lower body injury but looks back in his usual form with the playoffs coming up soon. The Sharks converted on their first good chance late in the first period when Pavelski knocked in a pass from Ryane Clowe on the back side of the play to tie his career high with 25 goals this season. NOTES: One of Vancouver's best scoring chances came on a delayed penalty against the Canucks. A backpass by the Sharks trickled down the ice as Nabokov skated to the bench. Nabokov did not play the puck in case it would have been a penalty for too many men on the ice and the puck barely wet wide. ... Vancouver has lost six straight games in San Jose. ... The Sharks suited up seven defensemen, using Jason Demers as a forward at times.